It's needless to say that the Windows search utility can be useless at times. It's extraordinarily slow, does not search within all folders, and ignores some files on the disk. I'm looking for an alternative where the application would meet these basic requirements,

Relatively quick

Gratis

Can search in all folders (including hidden folders)

Use wildcards (*.html) for filenames when performing a search

Runs on Windows 10

Some features that are not necessary but preferred would be,

Estimates time remaining until completion when performing a search

Replaces the search bar within Explorer and/or the start menu

Does not run a service or process when the application is not being run (only runs when the application has been started by the user)

4 Answers
4

An application that I have used in the past is called Agent Ransack. It is a free application and meets most of my requirements. It is very fast at finding results and has many options when searching for files.

Agent Ransack is a tool for finding files and information on your hard
drive fast and efficiently. When searching the contents of files Agent
Ransack also displays the text found. Users can then quickly browse
the results without having to separately open each file! Agent Ransack
provides compelling advantages over similar search tools:

I would also would like to add the program I currently use called everything. It again meets my requirements but something to note is that the results are instant. It's easy to use and takes up little disk usage as-well. You can search for both folders and files.

"Everything" is an administrative tool that locates files and folders
by filename instantly for Windows. Unlike Windows search "Everything"
initially displays every file and folder on local or removable NTFS
volumes on your computer (hence the name "Everything"), and on mapped
network drives with ETP server and an everything installation too. You
type in a search filter to limit what files and folders are displayed.
19 languages supported.

UltraSearch does not maintain an index which is stored on your
harddisk, but achieves its speed by working directly on the Master
File Table (MFT) of the NTFS partitions. UltraSearch even identifies
NTFS hardlinks.

Simply enter a file name or a pattern like *.exe and see the first
results while you are still typing. In addition, UltraSearch supports
regular expressions.